The 22 July new moon generated high spring tides, which is normal. The return of strong south-east trade winds, however, generated roughening seas with heavy ocean swells. This combination led, during the evening of 24 July, to large waves crashing on to Bird Island’s western beach, sending massive … More Evening trauma but morning shows all is not lost
Seychelles experiences two seasons per year. The north-west monsoon generally lasts from November to April. It is characterised by warm humid conditions, with calm periods interspersed with periods of heavy rain, including occasional torrential downpours. From late-May/early-June to October the islands are subjected to the south-east trade winds – steady winds from the south-east that … More An unseasonal season
I first stepped foot on Aride Island, Seychelles, in March 1972. With John Procter, then the Conservation Advisor to the Seychelles Government, we undertook a 3-day survey of the island, its vegetation and bird and reptile life. The island lived up to its name, being very dry even at the end of the “wet” season … More Amazing Aride Island
After a very long gestation period, my book “Orange omelettes and dusky wanderers” has now been published by Calusa Bay Publications, Seychelles. It describes my experiences in Seychelles from late 1971 to the present. Based around the biology of my beloved Sooty Terns, it also embraces other areas of conservation in Seychelles, illustrating the leading … More Orange omelettes and dusky wanderers
While Bird Island’s sands are highly mobile (see blog post of 23 June), within seasons some areas of beach can remain relatively unaffected by wind, tides and currents. Some plants have evolved to capitalise on this by producing fruits or seeds that survive well in seawater and are dispersed by it. These are the first … More Sand stabilising plants
Common Mynas Acrodotheres tristis like eggs. They have been recorded eating the eggs of many species, large sad small. In the process, they can endanger the survival of some of the world’s most endangered island endemic birds. Seabird eggs are often large and thus offer introduced Mynas a substantial meal. In 2015 Christine and I, … More Mynas can express their annoyance too
On Monday 12 June, we put our first GPS loggers on to incubating Sooty Terns on Bird Island, for a third season of investigating where Seychelles Sooty Terns feed at this stage of their breeding season. These small loggers, made by Pathtrack Ltd (www.pathtrack.co.uk) weigh about three grams and we put them on to incubating … More Our first tagged Sooty Tern of 2017 is back
On 9 June Christine and I disembarked from the Twin Otter that brought us on the short flight from Mahe to be welcomed by a very green Bird Island, betraying an unusually wet start to the “dry season”. Our ears and eyes were immediately filled with the sounds and sights of a multitude of Brown … More Sooty Terns return to Bird Island – and so do we
Iceland was colonised by humans around 1100 years ago by adventurous Viking explorers, initially from Norway but subsequently further settlers arrived from other Scandinavian countries. Inevitably, human arrival led to many changes in the ecology of the main island and its offshore islets, due to direct exploitation of resources for food, shelter and fire, and … More Puffin heaven – for now
On Friday 16 September Christine and I visited Pathtrack Ltd, the company that makes the GPS loggers (Nanofix GEO+) that we deploy on Sooty Terns (and that we also put on Brown Noddies with Camille Lebarbenchon, our friend based at Reunion Island). Following increased demand for their tracking equipment Pathtrack have relocated to a larger building in … More Feedback from Pathtrack: tracking technology moves on
